Cherise Bacalski, an appellate attorney who makes oral arguments at the Utah Supreme Court and Utah Court of Appeals, also took a master's degree with an emphasis in rhetoric. She shares how her education in rhetoric helped her to become a better advocate and the role of ethos and identification in legal argumentation. 

Properly understood, the classical image of the tyrant is not a form of government, but rather a disease of the mind. In this episode, Dr. Isaksen revisits a text he wrote in April 2016 describing the classical symptoms of a tyrant and how Trump already then displayed every one of them. It is a modern version of the classical rhetorical exercise "the topos of the tyrant." For more details about the rhetorical exercise, listen to the podcast episode on the topos of the tyrant https://rhetorical-leadership.transistor.fm/4  The original text performed in this podcast is available at http://intelligenceofpersuasion.blogspot.com/2016/04/why-trump-is-tyrant.html00:00 Trump at CPAC 202300:57 Revisiting 2016 predictions01:27 How freedom died in antiquity02:57 Those who tried to save it04:32 The Trumpian peril05:42 Trump is a classical tyrant07:16 What Trump could/would do as president10:22 The vices of the tyrant11:06 Suspicion13:02 Arrogance15:06 Cruelty and savagery17:00 Immorality and avarice19:34 Resist tyranny19:51 Our democratic complacency21:17 The weakness of our institutions

When Dr. Azamat Junisbai grew up in Qazaqstan, he looked down on those who spoke Russian with an accent. Although he was an ethnic Qazaq born in Qazaqstan, he had absorbed the colonial mindset that Russian language and culture were superior to the Qazaq language and culture. With Russia's attack on Ukraine, many in Qazaqstan are coming to a reckoning with Russian imperialism and its legacy in Eurasia. As a Qazaq sociologist, Dr. Junisbai shares his unique insights into this ideology and the hold it still has on many Russians.00:00 Introducing Dr. Azamat Junisbai00:24 Russia's image of its empire02:16 Growing up in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic04:22 The end of the Soviet Union07:55 The diminished status of the Qazaq language09:30 "How broken and colonized was my mind and language?"11:00 The Asharshylyk (genocide by hunger)12:50 Why the Qazaq Genocide is not more widely acknowledged16:50 Russia as the colonial master17:50 The endurance of the Empire/Soviet Union in the minds of Russians19:20 How Russia's attack on Ukraine has accelerated decolonization23:50 Why Russian imperialists see a weakened Russia as "the end of Russia"26:50 This is Russia's war, not just Putin's war29:00 The Leader and the People in Russian Imperialism32:30 The loss of the Empire34:12 How the Empire is taught and how it may be unlearned37:00 The coming reckoning with Russia's imperialism and colonial history38:30 How the colonial people are dehumanized40:15 Human life has little value in Russian imperialism42:30 It is the natural state of an empire to be at war43:00 "Borders must be drawn with blood"45:00 Controlling land is seen as the greatest value46:25 How Putin uses "the Empire" to stay in power47:34 The contest between the TV and the refrigerator48:12 Trapped behind the Iron Curtain and within the grasp of the Kremlin50:24 Russian defeat could mean another Berlin Wall coming down51:00 Growing post-colonial solidarity between Ukraine and Qazaqstan52:10 The future of Qazaqstan

Dr. Björn Olsen is a Professor of Infection Medicine at the Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University in Sweden. He was an active participant in the public policy debate where Sweden chose to disregard the advice and recommendations of the global scientific community and pursue a separate strategy that led to many unnecessary deaths. As a critic of the Swedish strategy, Olsen experienced hostility from the media and the Swedish Public Health Authority, and he reflects on the relationship between science, political power, and public policy debates.

Dr. Richard Enos joins us to discuss Perelman's theory of argumentation and how it provides a basis for making rational arguments and decisions about values.

Dr. Patricia Roberts-Miller, author of "Demagoguery and Democracy," gives her definition of demagoguery, explains how and why it works, and gives us some institutional and personal tools we can use to defend democracy. Recorded February 1, 2021.

Dr. Patricia Roberts-Miller, author of "Demagoguery and Democracy," talks about how demagogues arise out of a demagogic culture, the forms of argument we can recognize as demagoguery, their appeal, and why a culture of demagoguery is corrosive to democratic deliberation.

Although from humble origins, Quintilian rose to prominence in Rome as a teacher of rhetoric and became the first imperial endowed chair in rhetoric in Rome. He was a skilled and compassionate educator who tried to help his students become the "vir bonus" or "good man speaking well." Towards the end of his life, he summarized his educational methods and philosophy in the "Institutes of Oratory" and laid the foundation for classical education that would last for centuries.

Cicero gave his life defending the Roman republic from the emerging tyrants and saw rhetoric as tool to build, uphold, and defend a free and just society. In his writings on rhetoric and politics, he describes the virtues and skills needed by someone who would unite wisdom and eloquence to become the ideal orator. Dr. Enos joins us to discuss his life, writings, and legacy.

Aristotle wrote a work on rhetoric that would define a discipline. He rejected Plato's denunciation of rhetoric and showed why it is an art, a discipline, or a science and gathered the gems of all the manuals of rhetoric up to his day in a work that has endured for over 2000 years. Richard Enos and David Isaksen discuss some of its main contributions to rhetorical studies and what you can learn from it to give a good speech and lead ethically by persuasion.